Reverse winching

[Fuel Fire Desire]

Diving down the YouTube rabbit hole, I found a video on reverse winching. Something I never had thought of before, and could have used a couple times in the past.

Has anyone had any experience with using the technique? Specifically wondering how I should equip myself. I’ve seen diagrams for 3, 4, and 5 snatch block configurations. I currently only carry one snatch block, but will supplement with rings to reduce bulk and weight. I am also curious how heavy duty to go with the rings. It seems the block in front of the Jeep would take the most load, so I’d reserve that position for my 20,000 lb WLL block, but the redirect ring, and two rings behind the keep should take less of a load.

JLU 3.6, so say about 5,000 lbs, running a 10,000 lb winch with 3/8” Dyneema. Would a set of 3 or 4 48,000 lb breaking strength (divide by 6 to get a WLL of 8000 lbs) be sufficient? The redirect ring would be taking a minimal load, though the two behind would be taking more.....yet less than the pulling force of the winch itself by about 70% if I remember high school level physics well enough.

I’m not a rigger, so my math is probably way off.

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[BDinTX]

Good timing on this post, because I had to do it earlier today. The trail I ended up on had a spot which just a slight side angle to passenger side with a bunch of thorny brush, small trees, and a drop into a creek. Oh, and mud like grease. Slightest amount gas just caused the rear to slide right.

I set up like your first diagram but had both rear connections on the same tree. The only problem was that I didn’t have my full kit since I wasn’t planning to go off-road. I used the tree saver on the front tree and a tow strap doubled over the rear tree.

I didn’t bring my snatch rings and blocks so had to use big bow shackles and the rear tow hook as redirects. It wasn’t pretty but it got the rear back on the trail enough that we could reverse and use the rigging to continue pulling us onto the trail.

As for all that maths and dividin’ and stuft, I can’t rightly say...

 

[Kreepin1]

Never actually tried this, but...

The tension in the rope is essentially the same everywhere. The highest loaded snatch blocks and thus shackles are those with the narrowest angle between ropes. Basically the snatch block and shackle see twice the tension in the rope times the cosine of half the included angle between ropes. So the one on the side is the least loaded as you surmised, but the one in the front is the second least loaded while those in the rear are the highest loaded.

The above assumes you are using a snatch block at every redirect. If you are using tow hooks and shackles like @BDinTX had to do all bets are off and the tension in the rope will drop after every redirect.

 

[BDinTX]

Never actually tried this, but...

The tension in the rope is essentially the same everywhere. The highest loaded snatch blocks and thus shackles are those with the narrowest angle between ropes. Basically the snatch block and shackle see twice the tension in the rope times the cosine of half the included angle between ropes. So the one on the side is the least loaded as you surmised, but the one in the front is the second least loaded while those in the rear are the highest loaded.

The above assumes you are using a snatch block at every redirect. If you are using tow hooks and shackles like @BDinTX had to do all bets are off and the tension in the rope will drop after every redirect.

yep the lack of pulling power on the back was apparent. Guess who now has all the snatch blocks stashed in the Jeep now! Lol

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